Vending machine systems are well known in the art for distribution of products such as snacks, beverages, lottery tickets, and other goods to consumers without a cashier. One type of vending machine system is often found at vehicle washing facilities such as automatic and self-serve car washes, and distributes vehicle air fresheners to vehicle owners upon payment of a fee.
A known vending machine system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,396 to Gasiel et al., the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Gasiel et al. describes a drop-shelf system having a lever mechanism that is pivotally attached to a vertically moving reset bar that engages protrusions on edges of individual shelves, thereby enabling the shelves to be raised to a horizontal reset position in a single operation.
Conventional vending machine systems have many moving parts, which are often prone to mechanical failure. This results in undesirable maintenance issues during the operating lifetime of the conventional vending machine systems. Certain vending machine systems such as drop-shelf systems also have a considerable amount of unused space, even when fully loaded with product.
There is a continuing need for a vending machine system that has fewer moving parts and requires less maintenance during the operating lifetime of the vending machine system. Desirably, the vending machine system also permits the loading of significantly more product than conventional vending machine systems.